NAMM 2020: Fender unveils the Jim Root Signature Jazzmaster V4

(Image credit: Fender)

NAMM 2020: It has been the worst kept secret in gear but now it's official – Fender has tooled up Slipknot's Jim Root with another signature Jazzmaster, paring the iconic offset down for the topsy-turvy business of entertaining the Maggots with big riffs and chaos.

Wait, do Slipknot fans still call themselves Maggots? Wait, can we still call this a Jazzmaster? The body shape and the name on the headstock don't lie. But like its predecessors, V4 is a very different kind of Jazzmaster, offering a very different playing experience.

The Jim Root Jazzmaster V4 dispenses with the arcane electronics and switching. There's no rhythm circuit. The vibrato is gone, too, replaced by a hardtail string-through-body bridge. There is a single volume knob and a three-way blade selector switch. After all, this is built to tune down and shred.

Jim Root has gone for a mahogany body with contoured neck heel for upper-fret access, and a bolt-on maple neck with a C-profile. While it's hard to tell from the pictures, the neck heel contouring looks like it is in line with Fender's new American Ultra Series

A set of newly designed signature Daemonum open-coil EMG humbuckers in the neck and bridge positions should deliver the monster tones, while a set of locking tuners should help everything stay solid.

Elsewhere we've got Luminlay glow-in-the-dark sidemarkers, jumbo frets, an ebony fingerboard with pearloid block inlay and a 12" radius.

The Jim Root Jazzmaster V4 is finished in a pristine Polar White, very Imperial Stormtrooper, it comes in a Tweed case, is Mexican-built, and it'll set you back £1,139.00 ($1,399, €1,309).

See Fender for more details.

Check out our NAMM 2020 hub for more gear news.

Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.

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